


one step forward two steps back

by indecisivebehaviors



Series: Can't fight this feeling [10]
Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Angst, Multi, the kids are the only competent people in this fic, y'all are getting double angst this week cuz thats all my brain wanted to write i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29783247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indecisivebehaviors/pseuds/indecisivebehaviors
Summary: Misunderstandings fuel a new fight in the LaRusso/Lawrence household.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence, Miguel Diaz/Samantha LaRusso
Series: Can't fight this feeling [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200365
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64





	one step forward two steps back

They’d been sitting in the living room doing homework, she’d been trying to explain algebra to the boys, when they heard the door slam.

“-just can not believe you sometimes!” Her eyes widened at her father’s shouting.

Mr. Lawrence practically stomped over to the kitchen, and they could hear a bottle being cracked open, “For fuck sake Daniel-”

“You couldn’t even say it, John!”

She watches Johnny chug the rest of the bottle in one go, and she winces when he slams it on the counter, “It isn’t even a big deal, I don’t understand what you’re so angry about.”

“Well how about you go figure it out?” Her dad spits the words like venom.

“You’re being ridiculous! If you’re gonna keep acting like this I’ll just go sleep in my car.” Johnny glares.

He scoffed, “Oh you mean _my_ car right?”

“Y’know what,” Johnny scowled taking his keys out of his pocket and chucking them at his feet, “You want them back? _Take them_. I don’t need your shit.” He turns to walk out the front door.

“Don’t you _dare_ walk away from me. Johnny!”

He growls out, “Let me know when you’re over your fucking tantrum.” 

“ _John if you walk out that front door right now don’t you even fucking think about coming back in this house.”_

The room freezes. The three of them watch him still, back tensing like a rod, hand over the doorknob. He turns slightly, to talk over his shoulder, voice low and eerily calm, “If that’s what you want. Fine.”

Her dad’s eyes go wide, voice panicked, “What, no John, wait-”

The door slams shut. Silence.

“Daddy?” He jumps at the sound of her voice, and turns to look at them like he hadn’t even known they were there.

“Kids? I...” He trails off, can’t even look them in the eyes. He lets out a long shaky breath, hand coming to cup over his mouth and he shuts his eyes tight against visible tears. Turning on his heel, he walks down the hall. The door to the bedroom clicks shut.

“That,” Miguel starts, shaky, “that sounded really bad, right?”

Robby can only nod, eyes wide.

The three of them sit in silence for a long time, staring wide-eyed between the front door and the hall. She knows they’re all silently hoping one of the doors will open again. When eventually it’s clear that neither of them is going to, she turns back to the boys.

“One of us should go look for him. It’s gonna get dark soon, he can’t just...” She trails off and glances back at the door, “I’m gonna get my keys, he can’t have gotten far.”

Miguel nods, his face pinched in concern, “Yeah, that’s... that’s a good idea, we’ll go with you.” She quickly walks to her room to grab her bag, when she returns Miguel is already putting on his shoes, but Robby is still sitting on the couch in a daze.

“Robby?” She tries to get his attention.

“Hm?” He finally focuses on her and blinks, “Yeah, no sorry, you guys go ahead. I-” He cuts himself and looks down the hallway.

He doesn’t have to say it for her to know, and she gives him a sad smile, “That’s okay. One of us should stay back just in case.”

Robby nods, and without a word, makes his way down the hall to her fathers’ room.

“You ready?” Miguel asks, and she turns back to him.

She nods, and the two of them walk out the door.

* * *

  
  


He knocks- once, twice, three times- before he calls out hesitantly, “Mr. L? It’s just me. Can I come in?”

There’s no sound from the other side of the door for a long minute before he hears a quiet, “Come in.”

When he walks in, the room is dark, the only light coming in is peaking through the closed blinds. Mr. LaRusso is sitting on the bed, with his head in his hands, shoulders rising and falling in shaky breaths. He quietly pads his way over to sit next to him.

When he doesn’t speak, or even turn to look at him, Robby tries again, “Mr. L?”

He watches him take in a long breath and then sigh, turning his face to him. Even in the low light, Robby can tell just how destroyed he must feel at that moment. His eyes are rimmed red, the lines on his face more pronounced and there are tear tracks drying on his face.

“Mr. L?” He tries to keep his tone soft, “What just happened?”

He watches the man hesitate, dragging a hand through already very disheveled hair, and Robby can tell he has some excuse sitting on the tip of his tongue, “Robby, it’s not-”

“Please, don’t sit there and tell me that was nothing.” He cuts him off, sharply.

He blinks, surprised before his face pinches in guilt, “Really, Robby it’s... it’s just honestly really stupid. I feel like I’ve spent the last few weeks, as stressful and unpleasant as some of it’s been, and those parts really were honestly pretty terrible not gonna lie, but it’s felt almost like things were going _too_ good. If that even makes any sense. We have you kids back, all of you, and training has been going great, and you’re dad and I are-” He cuts himself off, starting over through clenched teeth, “we _were_ doing good.”

Mr. L gives him a long-suffering look before he turns back to the floor in front of him and gives a mirthless chuckle, “I shouldn’t have said _any_ of that, I know,” He clenches his eyes shut and leans his forehead against his fists, “I wasn’t thinking, I was just angry and it’s... we spent over 30 years being angry with each other, sometimes it’s just too easy to fall back into old habits I guess.”

“What did he do that made you so mad anyway?” He asks.

Daniel bites his lip and turns away, “We were, I don’t know, we were doing fine at the meeting, and then you’re dad was talking to someone and they asked... well, y’know about _us_ , and it wasn’t even a big deal. But it was like he just froze for a second. Like he didn’t know how to answer.”

Robby furrowed his brow in confusion, “Did he lie about it or something?”

Mr. LaRusso looked embarrassed, “Well, not exactly. I was gonna go over, step in to say something, _what_ I don’t even know, but then he’s telling the guy about how I was his _business partner_ and that we _teach together_ . Which, yes, I know isn’t technically a lie but it was just the way he _said it_ ...” He took a deep breath, “Like that was it, that was all it was, all _we were_ . That he’s just some guy I see during the workweek, not the one I’ve _lived with_ for several months. It’s like we were back in the 80s or something and he was _embarrassed_ of me _._ ”

He digs his palms into his eyes, “I tried- I tried to ask him about it in the car on the way home, and he just brushed it off like it was nothing, that I was the one overreacting about the whole thing. And y’know what? Maybe I was, but he could’ve pretended to give a shit.”

Mr. L drops his hands back into his lap, hanging his head, and he sounds resigned, “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, it’s not like it’s gonna fix anything.”

They sit in silence for a while, and Robby mulls the words over in his head. 

“Mr. LaRusso?” The man looks back to him and Robby holds his gaze, “you’re right, that’s really fucking stupid.”

He flinches visibly, and Robby almost feels bad. Key word being _almost_.

“You do know my dad is like, kind of an idiot right?” Mr. L tries to cut him off, “No, listen, sometimes he’s just really, really dumb. I wouldn’t honestly be surprised if the man did think it was still like the 80s or something. But also, he’s _basically_ obsessed with you,” Daniel’s eyes go wide, but he stays silent, and Robby presses on, “It’s kinda gross sometimes in that, ‘I don’t really wanna see my parents making googly eyes at each other’ kinda way,” Mr. L sputtered, face red, and Robby did actually laugh at him then, “Like it’s fine, right ‘cause and he’s doing a lot better than he was and he seems happy, but still,” he tries for something serious again, “I really don’t think he’s embarrassed or whatever. It wouldn’t shock me if he just... like really genuinely didn’t know how he was supposed to answer. He never really had to _explain_ it to any of us. Aisha and Hawk supposedly had an ongoing bet last summer that you two were gonna get together before the end of the year. He knows it’s not a big deal with us but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still think it is with other maybe kinda dumb adults who care about that kinda thing.”

“Also yeah, like what he did in the car was kind of a dick move, but I’m also pretty sure the man needs like major life events to talk about shit he thinks are as girly as feelings.

Mr. LaRusso stares at him for a long moment before something like realization crosses his face and he groans, burying his face in his hands, “Oh my god I’m such an idiot.”

Robby shrugs, then smirks, “Yeah, a little bit.”

With another groan, he stands quickly, and rushes through the bedroom door, calling back over his shoulder, “I have to go find your dad.”

* * *

  
  


If Miguel hadn’t been right behind her, she would’ve tripped over the man sitting outside the door.

He’s hunched over on the bottom step, head almost between his knees.

“Sensei?” “Mr. Lawrence?”

They watch him visibly flinch, jerking his head up suddenly, turning to look at him with wide eyes, “Why-? What are you two doing out here?”

She can tell easily just how exhausted he must be, the lines more prominent on his face, bags deeper, and a tense set to his jaw. He doesn’t look like he’s been crying, no tears on his face, but his eyes are rimmed red and bloodshot. He looks like a wreck.

She smiles at him, sadly, and she and Miguel go to sit on either side of him, “We were going to come out to look for you and get you to come home.”

“Step one accomplished,” Miguel says across from her, “Now we need you to come back inside.”

“I’m pretty sure you both heard all of that,” he points back over his shoulder, “I’m pretty sure I’m not welcome back in there.”

“You know my dad didn’t mean that right?” She puts a tentative hand on his shoulder, “He was just upset.”

He looks away from them both to look somewhere far off into the yard, “Yeah, well when is he not _upset_ with me?” His voice wasn’t even angry anymore, he just sounded miserable.

She worries her lip between her teeth, briefly catching Miguel’s eye across from her who looks equally concerned.

Miguel starts, hesitant, “Y’know I’m sure he’ll get over whatever it was eventually. It’s not like it could’ve been that bad.”

Johnny laughs, but the sound is hollow, “Didn’t even realize I’d done anything at all until we even got in the car.”

“Mr. Lawrence?” She keeps her voice as gentle as she can, “Why was Dad so upset?”

He doesn’t answer for a minute, dragging his hands down his face, eyes clenched tight in a painful looking grimace. He doesn’t look at either of them when he speaks, “Fuck I don’t know. He heard me talking to some guy at the meeting and got pissy about me not wanting to tell all of our personal shit to someone I don’t even know.”

“What do you mean?” Miguel asks, genuine confusion on his face, “What was he even asking about?”

Mr. Lawrence cringed, “He was just... asking about shit he didn’t need to know about.”

“You mean about you and Daddy?” She tries to coax him on.

He nods but doesn’t elaborate.

Miguel’s face shifts, “Sensei, you know it’s... okay that you two are dating right?”

Johnny scoffs, “Diaz I’ve lived in California my entire life and I’m surrounded by teenagers every damn day. I know that shit isn’t as big of a deal as it was in the 80s. Doesn’t mean it’s always easy switching gears from ‘if anyone finds out you’re gonna get beat within an inch of your life’ to ‘literally no one gives a fuck’ sometimes.”

She felt her eyes go wide, staring at the side of his head.

“I know it isn’t like that anymore, at least not most of the time,” Johnny presses on, “but I’d rather keep that shit to myself.”

“Did you tell him that?” She asks.

He looks away, “Didn’t really give me a chance to. Just kept acting like I was the asshole for wanting to keep our private life fucking private.”

They stay silent for a minute, before she speaks up again, “You know I think if you just come back in, and explained that to Dad he’d understand. It’s not like you both didn’t grow up during the same time period. He knows what it used to be like. He’s kind of a hot head most of the time but he’s also not usually unreasonable.”

“Yeah, well I really don’t think he wants to talk to me right now.” He sounds resigned.

As soon as he says it, they hear the latch click, and the door swings open. Her dad almost trips over them in his haste.

“Kids?” He sees them first before looking down, “Johnny?”

Johnny’s head whips around, eyes wide.

Her dad hesitates, face pinched in concern, worrying his lip between his teeth, “I- can I...” he sighs, “Kids can we talk privately for a minute?”

She and Miguel exchange worried glances, before he nods, “Yeah, we’ll just... go back inside for a bit.”

They move to stand, Miguel squeezing his shoulder, before they shuffle back inside, finding Robby sitting on the couch. He shoots them a hopeful, if not uneasy look.

“Do you think they’ll be alright?” Miguel asks, glancing back at the door.

She glances out the window, and smiles. Johnny and her dad, sitting, foreheads pressed together, hands joined between them.

“Yeah, I think they’ll be okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> not a single beta to be seen


End file.
